I am Thankful For
by cloudsword
Summary: Wolf is told by his father to look around the house for something he's thankful for while waiting for the Thanksgiving Dinner. What do you think he'll find?


**Bolt –**

**I am Thankful For…**

**This one-shot takes place between the KIT 'N' KITTEN ADVENTURES and the end of Bolt the Warrior's Soul Book 4**

His prey was frozen with fear, and he knew it. Wolf; the half puppy half kitten creature with grey fur, a cat's nose and the tail of a shepherd, stayed hidden behind the mixer, his hungry eyes focused on his target, a freshly cooked Turkey, just pulled out of the oven with stuffing and cranberries surrounding it, unguarded and sitting there, just waiting to be pounced on. The kit licked his lips, and looked to his right, finding it clear. He then turned to his left, straining his head over his back to look, and found no one to become competition for his meal. With a grin he turned back to the turkey, and attacked, dashing out from behind the mixer and leaping towards his prey, only to feel the hand of a human grab him by the scruff of his neck, stopping his pounce mid way. He mentally cursed himself, 'Shoot!' he had forgotten to look behind himself. "Nice try Wolf," he heard Mrs. Forrester, a slightly chubby woman with short fiery red hair and a pink shirt with a dark pink vest, say, "but dinner isn't for another ten minutes or so."

"But…but…turkey!" he whined as he was pulled away from his prize. "BOLT!" the head of the house yelled. Wolf visibly twitched as he heard the name of his father being called out. The creature that arrived was a white American Shepherd wearing a golden collar around his neck and a large lightning bolt shaped patch of black fur on his left hip, "Yes?" Bolt asked in perfect English. "Your son is on the hunt again!" Mrs. Forrester said. Bolt sighed in frustration, but kept calm as his son was escorted back down to the ground, "Come on sport!" he said as Wolf was released, and quickly, but gently bit down on the Kit's scruff to lift the child up.

"I almost had it too." Wolf pouted as his father carried him away. Bolt simply chuckled as he moved from the kitchen to one of the nearby spare rooms in the house to set the kit down. The room had been turned into the Kit's play area, with toys scattered all around and a large doggy bed in the corner for nap times, "The Thanksgiving turkey is an impossible target Wolf. Trust me, your mother and I have both tried several times." Bolt said after setting the Kit down. "But I don't want to wait ten minutes!" Wolf complained, "That's too long to wait for turkey!" Bolt placed a paw up to his chin in thought, "Why don't you look around the house for things your thankful for. You can give us a different answer this year." he suggested. "What's wrong with the answer I gave last year?" Wolf asked. "Nothing," Bolt told him, "but hearing 'Turkey' as your answer to 'what are you thankful for?' every year get's kind of old. You need variety." Wolf twisted his head to the right, lifting one of his eyes brows and looking to the ceiling in thought. This told Bolt that his son was thinking about the meaning of a new word, "Choices!" Bolt explained. "Oh!" Wolf said, returning his head and eyes back their original position. Bolt turned around, ready to exit the room, "Wait!" he heard Wolf say, "Where do I start?" Bolt chuckled again, "Anywhere but the kitchen!" he said with a laugh, and walked away. Wolf folded his ears to his head, "Thanks dad!" he said sarcastically, and again turned his head, "I wonder if that counts." he said to himself and shook his head to walk away.

Wolf walked through the halls of the house, and with a sigh, he turned to the clock on the wall, "Wow, five seconds and I'm already bored!" he said and continued walking. "HI WOLF!" he heard a favorite voice of his say from behind him. "Hi Mir!" he said with excitement. Wolf turned around and came face to face with a kitten about the same size as he was. She had white fur with two black stripes starting from the inside corners of her eyes and wrapped around her black ears. The stripes traveled down her back and ended just before her tail. "I got kicked out of the kitchen for trying to sneak a bite of turkey!" she said with a smile. "Same here!" Wolf told her. "So, what are you doing?" Mir asked. "My dad has me looking around the house for things I'm thankful for!" he said. "Let's make it a contest!" she suddenly said. "Huh?" Wolf asked. "Yah, the two of us see how many things we can find, and whoever comes up with the most wins!" she said with a sly grin. Wolf thought about it for a second, and then returned the grin, "Ok." he said, without even worrying about what he would win, "But we have to start in separate rooms, that way the lists can be a surprise!" Mir simply nodded, and took off towards the living room, "Hey!" Wolf said, "I was going to start there!" but watched as she disappeared down the hall. "Rats!" he said and turned around, deciding to start in Penny's room.

There he found the owner of the room, Penny the short-haired red-head. She was passing a brush through her hair, combing it out to be as pretty as the dress she wore. It was green, with a belt and collar of red. "Isn't that a bit festive?" she heard Wolf say from behind her. "I'm not taking fashion advice from someone who never wears cloths." she chuckled. Wolf simply glared at her, "I like the cold!" he said. "And the hot, and the dangerous, and the microwave…" she continued. "Ok, ok I get your point." he called out and traveled the rest of the way to Penny's bed. With a powerful leap, he rose to her covers, "Why are you getting dolled up anyway?" he asked. "Skylar is going to be here, and I want to look my best." she said. "I still say you look like a Christmas box!" Wolf commented and turned around, "I think you should wear the blue one!"

"I thought you didn't wear cloths!" Penny said with a smile. "And I'm thankful for that!" he said, and turned around to leave, but paused, "Huh! That was faster than I thought!" he told himself, and jumped off of the bed, leaving the room. Penny smiled and shook her head, looking back into the mirror, "Uh, Penny?" she heard her friend Clera, the short busty Neutrosian, ask, "You do know that Christmas isn't for another month right?" BAM! Penny sighed in defeat as she let her forehead slam into the desk of her vanity, her brushing arm still upright with the brush tightly griped.

Wolf trotted down to the next room, looking through the crack between the door and the frame. He saw his sister, a white cat with black tiger stripes and the tail of a Shepherd named Hazel, and Kevin, a small shy grey kitten with a white strip on his back and forehead. "Hi you two!" he said, being careful not to frighten Kevin. "Oh, it's you Wolf!" his sister said. "Hi Wolf!" Kevin replied in a shy manner. "What are you two up to?" he asked as he walked up to them. "Kevin's just practicing being brave!" Hazel said. "Huh?" he asked, and turned to the nodding kitten. "I thought you already learned how to be brave?"

"It's just hard to do, I still forget to tell my fears that I'm not afraid of them, and sometimes…it doesn't work." Kevin replied. "Boy, I'm glad I'm not afraid of anything!" Wolf said under his breath. "That just means you can't be brave!" Hazel told him, her eyes narrowing in a 'I got you!' fashion. "I can to!" he countered, his voice low as to not startle Kevin. "Nuh uh!" Hazel responded, "You have to be afraid of something to be as brave as Kevin!" Wolf puffed out his cheeks to her, his annoyance beginning to boil over, but instead he turned around and left. "Where are you going?" she asked. "I'm afraid I might hurt you!" Wolf said, "So I'm walking away, like Daddy said I should do." Hazel let her jaw drop to the ground as he ignored her, with Kevin silently chuckling in the background. 'Man she's annoying!' he thought to himself with his ears pulled back in anger, 'I'm glad dad taught me about walking away from something causing your problems.'

"Hmmm." he said to himself and smiled as he made his way through the kitchen. Pushing the door open to the basement, he dropped down each stare one by one. "Thanks Uncle Rhino!" Wolf heard Mir say as she appeared at the bottom. "Oh, Wolf!" she said with a start. "Sorry!" Wolf said as he turned around. "Oh that's ok, I was just on my way out anyway!" she said and jumped up the stairs past him. "See you later!" she said with a smile. Wolf simply waved back at her. "What do you think that was about?" he heard the hamster ask. "Don't know." Angelira said as Wolf set paw on the ground floor. "Hi Uncle Rhino!" he said as he saw the hamster sitting on top of his ball. Angelira was an angel winged Neutrosian, with a beautiful white evening gown on, "Hi Aunt Angelira!" he continued as he saw her just sitting there next to Rhino. "Oh hello Wolf!" the two of them said in unison. Wolf shook off the confusion, "What are you two doing down here?" he asked. "So far we're just talking!" Angelira said honestly. "Boring!" he said. "Well, even an adventure starts with just talking!" Rhino said. "Yah, but I prefer action!" the Kit said and crouched down into a pounce. The two of them chuckled, "I can see that!" Rhino said. "Are you coming up?" Wolf asked. "Yah, in a minute." Angelira said as she picked Rhino up from on top of his ball, "We haven't really seen each other since I went back to Neutros. It may have been a few fleeting minutes for me but it was ages for Rhino!" Angelira pressed her cheek up against his, the two of them snuggling in close together, "EW!" Wolf said. "What's so ew?" Angelira asked as she pulled Rhino away. "Tch! Grown-ups!" he said and turned to ascend the stairs. "Boy, I'm glad I don't have to worry about girls!" he said, and began thinking. 'I forgot that Neutros was on a different time frame than ours. It seemed as if she was only gone a few minutes, maybe only ten, but here, she was gone more than two months.' he thought to himself, 'I guess I'm thankful that Ii can see my friends anytime…if I'm not grounded!'

Wolf exited the down stairs turning to the turkey one more time. Licking his lips, he planned his next attack, only to find himself covered in shadows. The Kit looked up, finding Mrs. Forrester once again, smiling at him. "Eheh!" he chuckled, and abandoned his plan, taking off for the family room. "Still not ready yet?" he asked himself, and looked up, finding Shadows and Sassy talking happily with Bolt and Mittens. Shadows was a very large jet black cat, one the same size as Bolt. Sassy was normal sized, though she was white with black fur on her paws and chest. She had beautiful green eyes, however the left one had no pupil, it was blind. He knew Bolt as his father and the tuxedo cat next to him as his mother, Mittens. He watched them talk as they smiled, the four parents enjoying each other. Suddenly a pure white kitten emerged, with his brother next to her. Anna, the kitten, and Mike, the Kit with cat ears and chipmunk stripes on his back, chatted with each other happily as she learned things from him. Suddenly he smiled, imagining himself, his sister, Mir and Kevin all sitting around, happily playing and talking. "Dinner's ready!" they all heard Mrs. Forester call out. "But mom, Skylar's not hear yet!" Penny called out from her room. Suddenly there was a knock at the door, "I'll get it!" shadows said, and jumped up, catching the door knob with his paws and letting it turn. The breeze from outside pushed it open as the giant black cat quietly dropped to the floor. "I do hope I'm not late!" they heard a posh man's voice say from behind a large brown trench coat and colorful scarf. He quickly removed the scarf, and hung it up on the coat rack next to him as Shadows shut the door behind him. The handsome face was revealed, as well as pointed Neutrosian ears and his slicked back hair. "Skylar!" Penny called out as she ran down the stairs. Skylar removed his coat as she raced down to him, and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Oh!" he said as they collided, "It's good to see you as well my love!"

With one hand wrapped around her, he used the other to hang up his coat, "And you look…" he began and pulled her away to look at her dress. She had a mid-length dark blue dress now, with a black belt wrapped around her waist. It had no sleeves, instead hung from her shoulders by straps. "…Stunning!" he finished as he gasped in awe. Wolf simply smiled, as she started to guide him towards the kitchen.

They all sat around the overly large table, a feast of turkey, ham, stuffing and other foods filling the surface in front of them. "Now that's a meal!" Shadows whispered to himself, and licked his lips. Mrs. Forrester smiled as she turned to her right as she always did this time of year. "Wolf," she asked causing the Kit to look up at her, "What are you thankful for?"

Everyone waited with half laden eyes, almost as if they were expecting what he was going to say, almost as if they knew, "I'm most thankful for my family!" he said. Everyone looked up at him, surprise evident on their faces, "Even when they annoy me, I'm glad they're here. I'm also thankful for my friends, and the fact that they live so close, I couldn't imagine if they were taken away from me at all. For the wise words of my father and mother and how they want to look out for me, even if I'm the one who wants to get into trouble most of the time." He opened his eyes, seeing all of the surprised faces, and the proud smile in his two parents, "I'm also thankful for the turkey!" he added, getting everyone to laugh. "Well, we sure never expected that!" Mrs. Forrester said, and turned to Mir, right next to Wolf, "What about you dear?"

Mir smiled brightly, "He just said everything I was going to say!" she said, "Except the turkey part, I forgot about that!"

"Liar!" Wolf whispered, "It looks like a tie!"

**The End**


End file.
